Why I am ditching the group and giving Slimming World online a go.

Yesterday morning I found myself once again researching local Slimming World groups after a shocking encounter with the bathroom scales. Well not that shocking let’s face it you can’t eat pizza, cake and a Chinese takeaway and not expect to gain a few pounds.

Even though I’ve been piling the food in 75 per cent of the time and only sticking to plan 25 per cent of the time, I was still shocked, I should have seen it coming but at twenty-something-years-old and having spent nearly all of those years grossly overweight, I am still shocked at how quickly I manage to gain weight. If gaining weight were an Olympic Sport I would have won the gold medal on more than one occasion. This girl sure can pile on the pounds with very little effort, it’s a skill I wish I hadn’t mastered.

Staring down at that number on the scale I could feel myself on the verge of crying hysterically.

I don’t want to feel like that again.

So back to me sitting and researching groups. What did I find? A lot of groups run by my current Slimming World consultant, she is lovely but lately her group just isn’t working for me, admittedly I am also massively to blame but I really feel in order to reap the rewards from attending group you need to find your consultant super inspiring, and whilst I do love her if I’m brutally honest I don’t leave group feeling super motivated every week. So I’ve decided I need a fresh start with a different consultant.

Whilst browsing the site I also found a few evening groups but those do not work for me. Five thirty won’t work as my partner doesn’t arrive home until then, so it would have to be a lightening speed handover where Arlo is concerned before a mad sprint to make weigh in. I could take my handsome little man with me but it’s right in between his bedtime and I don’t want to disrupt his routine one day a week, I also enjoy reading him his bedtime story and putting him to bed! The seven thirty group also won’t work, I wouldn’t arrive home until around nine and now i’m a mum I am usually asleep by then!! I also wouldn’t know when to eat and could see myself very easily missing meals and starving in order to be lighter on the scales. A habit I don’t wish to pick up having done this previously.

I don’t drive so all groups have to be within walking distance, I am not opposed to public transport but again I can see the excuses forming in my head about how the bus was late so I couldn’t attend group.

So I was back to one group that suited me, Monday afternoon with the lovely consultant who first helped me on my journey. But after spending some time thinking about it I don’t think that will work either.

Then someone on Instagram asked if I had ever considered Slimming World online and it got me thinking.

When I first started my journey over a year ago following the plan online was simply not an option, I needed the support of group, of other people battling weight loss and the knowledge that I would have to stand on those scales each week and be weighed by someone else.

It helped me stick to plan and I dove head first into mission weight loss.

That was then and this is now. For now I honestly believe Slimming World online is the way to go and here is why…

If I’m honest I don’t need group at the moment, I get enough support, ideas and inspiration from Instagram and my Facebook page. I love my group so would never wish to offend anyone but we sit in a circle and go around one by one saying why we’ve lost weight or why we’ve gained and then that’s it, we go home. Of course it’s lovely to see everyone but apart from the odd recipe thrown around we don’t discuss anything else.

It’s an hour and a half out of mine and Arlo’s day where I could be doing something else with him. Going to a baby group, going for a walk or just having cuddles!

Since I rejoined having someone else weigh me simply didn’t give me the same drive as it had done previously. I still found myself shovelling in syn after syn.

Now that winter is fast approaching and being unable to drive I simply don’t like taking Arlo out in the wind and rain to go to group.

I need to take this time to be my own motivation and start being disciplined with myself. Motivation is great but it’s discipline that will see me reach my goals.

I can weigh naked!! No more dressing in leggings on a Monday morning come rain or shine!

I can still utilise the tools of Slimming World I can just do so online.

The final reason was because it meant I could start immedietly! Had I waited until Monday to rejoin I know I would have only got fatter! But instead I weighed in this morning and I’m already half way through day one on plan.

A lot of people (when asked) suggested they just didn’t think online would work, and I thought long and hard about what everyone said and decided to go with my gut. I haven’t been this positive and this excited about Slimming World in a long time. I will return to group in the future for sure but for now my journey is on the big World Wide Web.